Collapsible playyards or cribs are employed to provide an enclosed area in which an infant or toddler may be placed to sleep or play. These collapsible playyards have side rails which "fold" in half to allow for storage and/or portability. Playyards are mostly used for infants as a sleeping crib or to allow a caregiver to do other tasks and ensure that the infant stays out of trouble.
When infants get older, these portable playyards are not ideally suited as a play area. Accordingly, their useful life is somewhat limited. Moreover, as an infant becomes a toddler, they may be able to climb out on their own, thus defeating the purpose of the enclosure.
To provide more functionality for these playyards, it is known to provide a zippered panel to allow the child to crawl in and out of the playyard and thus allow conversion into a play area. Unfortunately, these zippered-panel play areas can be opened and closed at will by the toddler, which may be an undesirable feature for some caregivers, inasmuch as the toddler can leave the enclosure without the caregiver being aware. Still yet another drawback of such a play area is that the child may not completely open the zippered-panel and become entrapped.
Thus, the need exists for a convertible playyard which is convertible between an enclosed playyard and an accessible playyard. Further, a need exists for a playyard that is easily assembled by the caregiver, but not the toddler.